


in the stained glass

by Gayrefrain (orphan_account)



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Character Death, Multi, Not Season 3 Compliant, Violence, abuse mentions (all canonical references), age lift the kids to 14, and nancy to 17, everyone has superpowers!au, i take what i like from seasons 1 2 and 3 and that is what’s canon here, kali and eleven are sisters and i won’t hear otherwise, max and el are friends!!!, more relationship tags to come, more tags to come, multiple POVs, no Kali’s gang (not really), no demogorgon!au, no upside down!au, soulmates!au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-17
Updated: 2020-01-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:33:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22294867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Gayrefrain
Summary: When Soulmates meet and share the sacred bond of a first kiss, their love is manifested through a new supernatural ability. Sometimes it’s as small as being able to always remember people’s names, but sometimes it’s the ability to destroy a car. It’s a personal, powerful expression.Deep in Hawkins Forest in a sleepy Indiana suburb, a lab works to alter genetics in order to create those same powers artificially, and a group of young test subjects gain these abilities, but they’re faulty. They’re impure, and they drain instead of sustain.In a mass breakout, two manage to survive escape. And the Lab wants their experiments back, and they’re willing to do anything to get them.Luckily, the new friends they’ve made will do anything in their (new) power to keep them.
Relationships: Eleven | Jane Hopper/Mike Wheeler, Steve Harrington/Kali Prasad
Comments: 3
Kudos: 16





	in the stained glass

**Author's Note:**

> title from heather nova:
> 
> In a church of my own we're perfect together
> 
> I recognize you in the stained glass

> _ it keeps me warm as life grows colder _
> 
> \--"I wanna know what love is" by Foreigner

The only thing that kept 011 sane was the stories 008 told.

After long days of being injected with hormones and synthetics, then being pushed so close to the brink of exhaustion, 011 could sneak into 008’s room and hear stories.

011 had been there as long as she could remember. 

But 008 had been there since she was 6, and remembered life before it, even her real name and family. Her “parents.”

_ My name was Parvati _ she would say as they held each other in the sterile darkness. It would sometimes be the only thing said all night. 

But the Lab had the habit of stripping away who one used to be, and one day she said she no longer felt like Parvati. But 011 didn’t know that pain. She had a separate one. Hers was one of longing for what she did not know, who she used to be, and who she would not become.

The person she was now was sad, and tired, and beaten.

She spent her mornings in the lab after regulation nutrition, consisting of iron-heavy foods to increase metallic blood flow, and suffering through simulations in the lab. People in white coats would study her with cold eyes, and all she wanted to do was feel warm. Cozy. Protected.

011 did not have parents, she had a Papa. He would order her to use her brain, to push herself to the limits of her body, to prove them all right.

But because the scientists were wrong, the experiments were punished.

There was a version of her that could have had a normal life, one without these scientists, but she only knew a normal life because of 008.

008 read in the Lab’s library after training sessions when she showed improvement. That luxury was not extended to 011, so 008 would teach her. First letters, then words, then she’d steal her books to read.

She liked what 008 called Romances, ones by the likes of Norma Klein, where Soulmates (it was always spelled with a Capital S) met and fell in love. She liked when the lips touched, and the journey it took to get to that point. She liked the hugs. The only person that hugged her was 008, and sometimes they were too sore for such affection.

But she didn’t really get the need for the powers that the scientists so craved. Her entire life, she felt she was bred to do this, but was failing. All she wanted was that pressure gone. She did appreciate that in the stories, it seemed to end when the couple got their powers.  _ That _ was the happy ending, and from then on it was okay. 

008 turned to the mythology anthologies, especially Greek and Hindu stories. 011 had heard all of them, from Philomela and Procne’s revenge to Tripura Bhairavi and her divine light. 

The elder girl loved the stories of Kali, especially the legend of the Slayer of Raktabija. 

The younger liked the ones about Persephone and Hades, about finding light and love in the darkness. 

008 found her interpretation deplorable. “He  _ kidnapped _ her, Eleven,” She said, making her number sound like a name. “He won’t let her leave! How are they Soulmates?”

011 thought of it as a rescue, and making a difficult situation good. She thought of the picture of them on Hades’s throne, sitting together, sharing in their rule. Persephone even had a flower crown. She always wanted a flower crown. 

They both liked the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, for different reasons. “It’s why you can’t trust a man,” 008 said as the moral, almost like a joke, but that didn’t feel like it to 011. It felt like the fear of loss was destructive. But she didn’t want another discussion that night, not after the taser Ray “encouraged” her with drained her of all energy.

Most of the time, she was so exhausted her eyes wouldn’t stay open, and all she wanted to do was sleep. 

But sometimes, she was angry.

She was so angry it felt like the blood would boil through her skin. She fantasized about snapping their necks as they shoved cattle prods into hers. 

008 understood that. She listened to her, and held her, and let her cry.

Each night, they turned to each other, and the torture was bearable. 

But it got worse when the scientists’ efforts paid off.

And all the remaining kids in the Lab got abilities without ever meeting their soulmates. Then it all, as 008 would say, went to Hell. 


End file.
